Is a mag 24 too Big???

[bigpapa]

I have a brand new mag24 that I got with one of my tanks. Never been used. I planned on using it on either a 125 or 150, either would use a 55 sump underneath.
Is this pump too much for the return and if so can I use ball valves to restrict the flow without damaging the pump or anything else for that matter? Or, should I just see about getting a different size pump?
Thanks

 

[scsinet]

A mag 24 produces 2400GPH of water... that's more than you'll be able to deal with for filtration.
You'd have a tough time coming up with large enough or numerous enough overflows, and the flow through your sump would be like a cyclone (40+ times turnover power hour

)
You can use a ball valve to restrict the OUTPUT down to only a small fraction of rated output, like say... 250gph). You never, ever want to restrict the intake in any way.
However, these pumps pull a significant amount of power and when you valve it down to say half, you're wasting quite a bit of electricity. I'd try to trade that pump for a Mag 12 or something like that. If the pump is brand new, any mom & pop LFS should gladly do this for you as they'll make a tidy profit, and you get the power savings. If not, a local reef club will yield a line of 100 people breaking down your door.

 

[al mc]

I put a Mag24 that I was not using into a system I helped a friend set up. He had a 72 gallon bow front and we built a 3' x 4' sump/refugium out of acrylic. The pump is in the basement...so it is 8-10 feet under the outflow point into the tank. We put in a couple of T's and ball valves that redirect/recirculate some of the water back into the sump/refugium. The system has been up for about a year and has worked well with tremendous
macroalgae growth with the flow thru the Chaeto in the refugium.
I agree with SCSI that you will be wasting lots of electricity if you do not need the flow. But, with proper lighting and flow you can really pull some nitrates out with the macroalgae growth.

 

[bigpapa]

Ok, so I think that doing a trade down for my purpose would make the most sense. My sump really will not have any distance to travel so a 12 might be my best bet.
Thanks for the help!!